Jacobson, Edward

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JACOBSON, EDWARD

JACOBSON, EDWARD (Eddie; 1891–1955), U.S. businessman and longtime friend of President Harry S. Truman. Jacobson, together with Truman, operated a canteen at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, during World War i and in 1919 they opened a haberdashery in Kansas City, Missouri. While their business was initially successful, during the panic of 1921–22 the enterprise collapsed. After Truman became president, Jacobson, aware of the international plight of Jews, discussed with him the refugee and Palestine partition issues (1947). In March 1948, at a critical moment in the period preceding the establishment of the State of Israel, he persuaded the reluctant president to see Chaim *Weizmann, portraying the Zionist leader as his hero and comparing him with Truman's idol, Andrew Jackson. At Jacobson's death, Truman eulogized him for his trustworthiness, warmly recollecting their intimate association.

Jacobson's memoirs of his association with Truman were published in the American Jewish Archives (vol. 20 (1968), 3–15).

[Milton Plesur]